


Leave the Light On

by warqueenfuriosa



Series: Star Wars Holiday Ficlets [1]
Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Clowns, Cute, F/F, F/M, Gen, Gender Neutral, Halloween, M/M, Other, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Reader-Insert, Romance, Sweet, reader - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 05:51:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12184152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warqueenfuriosa/pseuds/warqueenfuriosa
Summary: Poe wheedles Reader into watching a horror movie with him, and Reader gets revenge (gender neutral).





	Leave the Light On

**Author's Note:**

> Some sweet Poe fluff for Halloween! Hope you like it and feel free to drop by tumblr and say hi @warqueenfuriosa

“I’m not scared,” Poe said.

“Then you’re a big fat liar,” I shot back, burying my face in his neck.

“It’s just a movie, babe.”

“With demon clowns.”

Poe laughed and I jabbed my finger in his ribs. He squirmed away and hooked an arm around my shoulders, drawing me closer.

It was the night of Halloween and somehow I found myself roped into a horror movie marathon at two o’clock in the morning. With  _no_  lights on. I refused to chicken out. Poe would never let me hear the end of it, teasing me mercilessly for an entire year until the next Halloween rolled around.

So I swallowed my pride and agreed. Now I was regretting my decision.

I risked a peek, hoping the gruesome scene had passed already, but Poe covered my eyes with his hand.

“Don’t look,” he said. “It’s not over yet.”

I growled in frustration and inched even closer, hitching one leg into his lap and sliding between his knees, eliminating every ounce of space between us. His other hand settled on my ankle, gliding up my calf, behind my knee and up my thigh, fingers toying with the hem of my shorts.

“Poe Dameron,” I said in a warning tone. “If you think, for one minute, you’re getting any action while a serial killer clown is on the television, you will be very disappointed.”

I felt Poe shift forward and my arms flew around his neck as he leaned over me to reach the remote control that he’d left on the coffee table. He turned the television off.

“Better?” he said, grinning as he took my earlobe in his teeth.

“No,” I said, sullen. “Now it’s dark.”

“That’s the point, babe.”

When I didn’t move, he sighed and pulled away.

“It  _is_  pretty dark in here,” he admitted.

“Turn on the light,” I demanded in a hushed tone, shoving his arm at the same time that I clung to his sleeve so I didn’t lose contact with him.

“I’m trying.”  _Click, click, click._  “Bulb must be burned out.”

“Poe, damn it, you’re not being funny.”

“I’m not kidding, sweetheart. It’s fine. I’ll just go turn on the hallway light.”

I grabbed his wrist as he rose to his feet, and I scrambled to stand, too.

“Like hell you’re leaving me here, in the dark, by myself,” I said.

“It’s barely five feet to the hallway. You won’t even be alone for two seconds.”

“Demon clowns kill fast.”

Poe groaned. “For the love of god.”

“Do you want me to be murdered when your back is turned because you didn’t listen to me?”

He didn’t respond right away and I could practically hear him rolling his eyes.

“How does it sound,” I added, “to sleep on the couch for a week or two?”

“I’ll protect you, babe.”

“Smart man.”

Poe led the way as I gripped fistfuls of his t-shirt, using him as a shield, tripping over his feet as I shuffled behind him. After two steps, he stopped, took my hand, and practically peeled me off of his back to stand at his side. I wrapped both of my hands around his upper arm.

“This is when,” Poe said as he collided with an armchair and sidled his way around it, “you ask if I’ve been working out. And the answer would be yes, thank you for noticing.”

“I know you haven’t been working out because your gym membership expired two months ago. And I will be more impressed after you strangle a clown with your bare hands when it tries to kill us in our sleep.”

“You really hated that movie, didn’t you?”

“I told you.”

Poe flicked the light on and gestured down the hallway. “Empty, see? No evil clowns.”

“Everyone knows you have to check under the bed, the closet, and the shower. Top three places for a clown to hide.”

He raised his eyebrows. I crossed my arms.

“The shower?” he said.

I nodded.

He studied me for a moment. “You’re serious.”

“As a heart attack.”

“Fine, I’m going.”

I stood in the halo of light, watching as he checked the bathroom then followed him into the bedroom. I waited as he looked under the bed and in the closet. Then he turned to face me and spread his hands.

“Coast is clear,” he said.

“Promise I get to pick the movie next time,” I said, pointing at him.

“That’s blackmail.”

“Do it.”

“Okay, okay. Just…not Winnie the Pooh.”

“Don’t knock Pooh Bear,” I said as I sank onto the foot of the bed.

“Babe.” He came to stand between my knees and cupped my face in his hands. “Please stop talking about Winnie the Pooh when you’re sitting on the bed looking like that. You know what you do to me when you wear those shorts.”

I grinned up at him. “Payback for clowns from hell.”

He groaned and dropped his head to my shoulder, pushing me back against the pillows, one hand hooked behind my knee, drawing my leg up around his hips.

“Will you ever forgive me?”

I nipped at his bottom lip. “Nope.”

“Even if I’m on my best behavior?” he said, kissing up the length of my neck.

I blew out a breath of disbelief. “When have you ever been on your best behavior?”

“Just cut a man’s knees out from under him, why don’t you? I’m walking wounded, stabbed in the heart by the love of my life.”

“And you call me the dramatic one.”

Poe laughed softly as his thumb ducked under the hem of my sweater, curved over my hip. I threaded my fingers through his hair and he tilted his chin up, eyes closed, pressing his cheek into my palm. I wouldn’t be surprised if he started purring like a cat any second now.

_Thunk._

Poe froze. He raised his head, shifting back far enough that he could glance out of the bedroom door and down the, now pitch black, hallway.

“What was that?” I whispered.

“Don’t know,” he replied slowly without looking at me.

“Poe, I swear, if you’re screwing around – “

“Honey,” he said, voice low and rough. “I didn’t make that noise.”

I hesitated. “Maybe it’s…neighbors?”

Poe said nothing. He placed his hand flat against my hip in a staying motion as he stood, his other hand reaching for the baseball bat tucked in the closet. I fell silent, huddling on the bed with my back to the wall.

“Lock the door when I leave,” he said.

I nodded, squeezing his hand as he slipped out the door and I shut it behind him.

I waited to the count of seven before I opened the door and tiptoed down the hallway after him. He was so quiet, I could barely hear him creeping from the living room towards the kitchen.

But I knew the moment he turned on the light in the kitchen from the scream.

“God damn it, Finn! I could have hit you! Why the hell are you wearing a clown suit?”

For a few seconds, Finn was laughing too hard to respond. Before he could rat me out, I came into the kitchen and held up the agreed upon ten dollars. Finn accepted it, wiping a tear of laughter from his eye.

“I got the whole thing on video too,” Finn said. “YouTube, here I come.”

Poe brandished the bat in his direction. “Don’t even think about it, buddy.” Then he turned the bat on me. “And you.”

I flashed a smile at him. “You love me. Remember that.”

“It’s a good thing you’re cute, otherwise you’d be sleeping alone.  _In the dark_ ,” he added, enunciating each word.

“You’re not that mean. Terribly handsome and brave and strong, but not mean.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.”

“Did I mention that you’re charming, too?”

Poe let the bat fall to his side in resignation with a small sound of frustrated defeat. I wrapped my arms around his waist, laughing, and kissed his cheek.

Finn made a face and shouldered past Poe. “That’s my cue to leave. Don’t let the evil clowns bite.”

After Finn left, I nudged Poe back to bed and he switched the light off, nosing at my hair, the width of his palm splayed loosely across my stomach.

A beat of silence.

“Poe,” I whispered.

“Yeah?”

“It’s so dark.”

He pulled me towards him until I laid my head on his chest. “I got you, babe. Even though you were a brat earlier. Can’t believe you paid off Finn to betray me like that.”

“You deserved it for making me watch that horrible movie.”

“It wasn’t scary.”

I huffed. “Debatable.”

Seconds ticked by. Poe sighed, shifted his arm around my waist.

“You know what?” he said after a minute. “You’re right.”

“About…?”

“It’s too dark. Let’s just…turn the light back on and…maybe…leave it on.”

I knuckled him in the side. “Scared?”

“If I’m going to protect you, I’ve got to see what’s coming at me.”

“Sure,” I said with a smile as he kissed the top of my head. “Whatever you say.”


End file.
